Robert A. Monroe

The first step in making some kind of sense out of this mass of raw data was to set up standards for measurement and analysis. After several attempts, it became apparent that only a few of the typical yardsticks could be applied. Therefore, assumptions or premises were made to permit identification in the sorting process, and the conclusions brought forth are only as valid as the premises on which they are based.

The duality of existence is completely contradictory to all available scientific training and human experience. Again, the ultimate proof of such affirmation is to experience one's self in this state of being.

Throughout this writing, I have made many references to one evident fact; the only possible way for an individual to appreciate the reality of this Second Body and existence within it is to experience it himself.

The experimenter will want to proceed in a manner that will produce consistent results, perhaps not every time, but often enough to validate the evidence to his own satisfaction. I believe that anyone can experience existence in a Second Body if the desire is great enough. Whether or not anyone should is beyond the scope of my judgment.

There is an acute awareness of "difference," which is like radiation (as it may well be) from the sun, or a fire as felt by one shivering with cold. It is dynamically attractive and needed. This attraction varies in intensity with the individual... The "act" itself is not an act at all, but an immobile, rigid state of shock where the two truly intermingle, not just at a surface level and at one or two specific body parts, but in full dimension, atom for atom, throughout the entire Second Body. There is a short, sustained electron (?) flow one to another. The moment reaches unbearable ecstasy, and then tranquillity, equalization, and it is over.

First and most obvious, there is no evidence of the male-female interpenetration. Attempts to express the need in such a functional manner become pathetic in retrospect. One discovers in frustration that it just doesn't happen that way in the Second State. Next, sensuality produced by the physical form of the sex counterpart is entirely absent. There is no distinct pattern of physical shape, either visually or by touch.

Why this takes place, why it is needed, I do not know, any more than the north pole of a magnet understands its "need" for the south pole of another magnet. Unlike the magnet, however, we can perceive objectively and ask "why." One fact is certain: as in the physical state, the act is equally needed in the Second. In some parts of Locale II, it is as ordinary as shaking hands.

12/5/58 Morning

I rotated again, and again found the hole. Still with a note of caution, I approached the hole, and this time reached through with both hands. Instantly, both were grasped by two other hands. Then for the first time in all my experimentation, my name was called. A voice—feminine, soft, low-pitched, and urgent (just as if someone were trying to wake me up from sleep without startling me too much)— called, "Bob! Bob!" I was startled at first, then recovered and asked, "What is your name?"..

After some twenty minutes of calming myself down, I returned to bed. I was naturally reluctant immediately to try to sleep again. I did not want a recurrence of the fight. I knew of no way to prevent it. I tried what seemed to be the only answer. (The alternative was to stay awake all night, and I was much too tired.) I lay there and repeated, "My mind and body are open only to constructive forces; in the name of God and good, I am going into normal restful sleep." I did, and awoke at my usual time in the morning. Before sleep came I had repeated the phrase at least twenty times.

Most important, you are not alone. With you, beside you, interlocked in you are others. They do not have names, nor are you aware of them as shapes, but you know them and you are bonded to them with a great single knowledge. They are exactly like you, they are you, and like you, they are Home. You feel with them, like gentle waves of electricity passing between you, a completeness of love, of which all the facets you have experienced are but segments and incomplete portions. Only here, the emotion is without need of intense display or demonstration. You give and receive as an automatic action, with no deliberate effort. It is not something you need or that needs you. The "reaching out" is gone. The interchange flows naturally. You are unaware of differences in sex, you yourself as a part of the whole are both male and female, positive and negative, electron and proton. Man-woman love moves to you and from you, parent-child-sibling-idol and idyll and ideal—all interplay in soft waves about you, in you, and through you. You are in perfect balance because you are where you belong. You are Home.

In non-physical trips to Locale II, often there is a "layer" or area which one must pass through...It is a gray-black hungry ocean where the slightest motion attracts nibbling and tormenting beings... If you move slowly and do not react to the curious "fish" who come to investigate, you pass through without much incident. Move violently and fight back, then more excited denizens come rushing in to bite, pull, push, shove.

Could this be the borders of hell? It is easy to conclude that a momentary penetration of this nearby layer would bring "demons" and "devils" to mind as the chief inhabitants. They seem subhuman, yet have an evident ability to act and think independently. Who and what are they? I don't know. I haven't taken the trouble to stay there long enough to find out. Only by terrified trial and error did I find the method to pass through in reasonable peace.

This Second Body has weight as we understand it. It is subject to gravitational attraction, although much less than the physical body. The physicist might explain this, of course, by saying that it is a question of mass, and anything that can interpenetrate a wall must have so little density as to be able to sift through the space between the molecular matter structure. Such little density implies very little mass—but it still may be matter. This is further supported by the half-out experiment, where the legs and hips were separated, then allowed to drift downward and drape over the bed. The low-density mass fell as a feather would fall. Pushing through the wall may be an example also.